If you haven’t noticed yoga has a diversity issue, you may be blissfully blind to color, or you may be white. There have been more than a few articles recently pointing out the whiteness of yoga in America as its popularity continues to expand. But despite what we see in the media, black people DO practice yoga, and we appreciate the organizations and individuals working hard to change the stigma, to make yoga more accessible and its image less homogenous. We also appreciate people like Obehi Janice who wrote, produced and starred in this “Black Girl Yoga” music video tackling the issue with humor and cheekiness. Oh, and the perfectly utilized “namaste mama-sah ma-ma-coo-sah.” Sing it.

I don’t know. I am Black. It was pretty painful to watch. It felt like a Tyler Perry movie or one of those family reunion at big mamma’s house commercials or shows. Like all the most stereotypical parts of being Black was thrown into a video. This video does not reflect me at all.

So why is she the only Black girl in her yoga class? Is it that skinny White woman stereotype again? Do we as teachers not make folks of all backgrounds comfortable in our classes? I hear the message but can’t quite see the solution to create more inclusivity. Any suggestions?

I agree with Genevieve. I don’t think this really addresses the subject at all and was more about not wanting/being able to do poses that she believes seemingly only white yogis can do. As a yoga teacher what your skin color is does not dictate how i teach. Injuries, body types and levels of practices however, do. Now if she wanted to wrap about the advertising and marketing of yoga…that might be more relevant. Just a thought.